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Tag Archives: AFP
October 15, 2012, 4:41 pm
Nonprofits Lost $100 in Gifts for Every $100 Raised, Study Finds
Just how hard it is for fundraisers to keep raising as much this year as they did last year can be found in a just-released analysis of 2011 fundraising returns.
For every $100 charities raised in 2011, $100 was lost as donors stopped giving or donated less, concludes a new report by the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Urban Institute. What’s more, for every 100 donors that nonprofits recruited in 2011, they lost 107.
Bigger nonprofits did better than smaller ones, the study says. Those groups that raise $500,000 or more each year lost only $90 for every $100 gained, compared with organizations that raise less than $100,000; these smaller groups lost about $110 for every $100 raised.
Those in the middle—nonprofit organizations that raise $100,000 to $500,000 annually— lost nearly $100 for every $100 raised.
Larger groups may have performed better simply…
April 6, 2012, 2:01 pm
The Chronicle’s Reports From Fundraising Meeting
See all the the articles Chronicle reporters wrote while they covered the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, held in Vancouver.
April 4, 2012, 1:53 pm
A Simple Question to Prevent Employee Theft
Each year, billions of dollars are stolen from charities by people working for them. One simple way to keep that from happening, a former state regulator told attendees of the Association of Fundraising Professionals meeting in Vancouver, is for chief executives of nonprofits to sit down with staff members and ask bluntly: How would you steal from me?
Michael DeLucia, former director of charitable trusts in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, said that direct approach was not his idea, but he learned it from an ex-FBI agent.
The first time chief executives pose the question, no one may speak up, he said, but the second time, workers will be talking about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the charity’s systems and suggesting improvements.
“Leaders need to send a clear message from the top,” Mr. DeLucia said.
Send an e-mail to Raymund Flandez.
April 4, 2012, 12:34 pm
One Teddy Bear Leads to a Million-Dollar Gift
“What’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?”
Fundraisers were treated to a little Tina Turner at the beginning of “The Power of Love in Major Gifts Development,” a session at the Association of Fundraising Professionals conference, in Vancouver, that focused on the emotional issues in giving.
It turns out a little bit of love does make a difference—and can even land a $1-million gift.
Cindy Niemi, a major-gifts fundraiser at MultiCare Health Foundation, in Tacoma, Wash., says she and her colleagues visit donors whenever they end up as patients at the hospitals the foundation supports.
When Ms. Niemi was told to visit Philip Simon, she did what she typically does and picked up a teddy bear to bring to the patient. When she arrived at the hospital room, Mr. Simon was with his wife, Snookey. “They both lit up when they saw this little…
April 4, 2012, 9:03 am
Emotional Wayne Gretzky Delivers Talk About Family Influence in Philanthropy
The first time that ice-hockey legend Wayne Gretzky ever spoke at an event for a nonprofit organization was at the local Lion’s Club dinner when he was 10, where he was honored for his athletic feats (even at that age) and where he met his idol, Gordie Howe, another ice-hockey legend. The Ontario-born jock was told he didn’t have to give a speech, but the emcee thought otherwise.
Shaking from stage fright, he got up, said “Thank you,” and began to cry.
“That was my first introduction to charitable work, being with foundations and charitable giving,” Mr. Gretzky told attendees of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, in Vancouver, in his keynote speech. “It wasn’t memorable,” he deadpanned.
That recollection got a lot of laughs from the largest gathering of fundraisers in the world. But they also saw a vulnerable Mr. Gretzky, who, with his voice breaking, confided with…
April 3, 2012, 9:32 am
Attendance at Fundraising Conference Drops by More Than 20%
Officials of the Association of Fundraising Professionals are hoping a few dozen more people will sign up to get into the last day of the conference in Vancouver to listen to today’s keynote speaker: Wayne Gretzky, the ice-hockey legend.
Lack of star power, an international location, and events that coincided with many school vacations are among the reasons that this year’s meeting attracted 3,200 people, down from the more than 4,000 fundraisers who went to the conference in Chicago last year.
“Geography is an issue,” says Michael Nilsen, a spokesman for the association. It’s the first time since 2003 in Toronto that the conference has been held outside the United States, he says.
Still, the attendance figure is in line with the organization’s goal this year, Mr. Nilsen says. “Frankly, they’re pretty good numbers. … We’re in the ballpark.”
In Chicago last year, the…
April 1, 2012, 9:29 pm
Stuff (Major-Gift) Fundraisers (Shouldn’t) Say
“Hit up.” “Loaded.” “Milk.” “Should give.” “Ought to give.” “Owes us.” “Get into his or her pockets.” “Pick the low hanging fruit.”
Those are the kinds of expressions fundraisers should never say, Marcy Heim, a fundraising trainer in Madison, Wis., told people gathered in Vancouver for the first day of the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Such talk is toxic, she says, and will destroy a charity’s image and create a schism between the professional staff and board members and big donors.
“A donor can smell a fake a mile away, just as you can,” Ms. Heim said.
Fundraisers shouldn’t ever suggest to donors that they can get extra recognition by making a big gift, or reduce or avoid taxes through a charitable donation. However, so many fundraisers have said such things that a lot of donors are now turned off.
While many donors have said they stopped…
March 22, 2011, 3:15 pm
Nonprofits Should Incorporate Millennials Sooner Rather Than Later
Chicago
How do nonprofit leaders get members of the so-called millennial generation to connect with their causes?
Tucker Branham, a millennial and senior consultant with Corporate DevelopMint, has some simple advice: Ask them.
According to Ms. Branham, millennials—members of the generation that reached adulthood in the 90s and early 2000s—are passionate and knowledgeable about social issues, thanks to their connectedness through online networks. And they want their ideas to be heard.
“They want to network, they really like mentors, but they need free reign on their ideas and creativity,” she says.
To tap into this energy, Ms. Branham says nonprofits don’t have to turn over control of their operations to these young professionals. But they should find ways to listen to their ideas.
For more about how to connect with millennials, see the video above.
March 21, 2011, 6:10 pm
The Art of the Discovery Phone Call
Chicago
Eli Jordfald doesn’t believe in making cold calls.
But as senior major-gifts director for the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Mrs. Jordfald says that much of the $3-million that she raised last year came as a result of donors she had engaged over the years through discovery calls—phone calls made to prospects who had a known connection to the center but who had not made large gifts.
Her experience interacting with potential donors, many of whom are former patients of the center, has taught her some unexpected lessons.
Some people, for example, are eager to discuss their illness and treatment plans. All of them appreciate knowing the title of the fund raiser who is calling.
But the biggest lesson has to do with the difference between discovery calling and cold calling. In the video below, she explains the distinction:
March 21, 2011, 5:10 pm
Introverts Can Be Great Fund Raisers, Too
Chicago
While many believe fund raisers must be extroverted to be successful, an introvert’s preferences can also be an asset on the job, said Eva E. Aldrich and Tyrone M. Freeman, associate directors at the Fund Raising School at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
Ms. Aldrich and Mr. Freeman spoke today to a room made up primarily of self-identified introverts at the AFP International Conference of Fundraisers. The pair used the Myers-Briggs definition of “introversion,” saying that introverts gain more energy from thinking and reflecting than they do from socializing.
“It’s not a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just about where you put your energy,” Mr. Freeman said.
The key skills for a successful fund raiser—integrity, commitment to the cause, honesty and intelligence—have nothing to do with being an introvert or an extrovert, he said. Even in…
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